Elicia's Dad
by sailor skippy
Summary: Konohamaru is Elicia's new friend, and Hughes isn't really sure how he feels about that.


The fact that Maes Hughes was protective over his daughter, Elicia, was a well-known thing at her school. This made it hard for her to bring friends over, _especially_ male ones. She didn't see this as a bad thing, not at all, but it did prove to be difficult when she developed small crushes or simply wanted to have play-dates.

Hughes, on the other hand, didn't really mean to make it difficult for Elicia to see her friends. He was just really _passionate_ about his family, and sometimes his paternal instinct intensified due to said passion.

This being said, Hughes was rather _shocked_ when Elicia brought a boy home after school one day. His thoughts instantly went to '_My little girl can't get married at age 10! I won't allow it! She isn't even allowed to date until she's at _least_ 20!_' When he saw the young boy, though, he couldn't help but think '_yeah, okay, at least Elicia picked well'_. Of course that all went to hell when the child opened his mouth.

"Hey old man! I'm Konohamaru, its nice t' meet ya!" He jabbed his thumb at his chest, all while Elicia smiled happily.

What a _rude_ child! Not only did he speak so boldly, but he did so to his elder; and even though Hughes was his elder, he was most certainly _not_ an old man.

"What are your intentions with my daughter?" Hughes cut to the chase, squatting down to be at eye level with the little monster.

"Well," He looked to Elicia and they both grinned, "we were gonna play ninja!"

Elicia jumped up and down, giggling happily, "We came up with a bunch of cool hand things, and you haf'ta do them if you wanna use ninja powers!"

"Aw, that's so cute!" Hughes momentarily forgot about the boy as he pulled his daughter into a hug, rubbing his face against hers. He then pulled away, "But wouldn't you rather play something else? Like princess, or dress up? Daddy could be king and he would banish _anyone_ who seemed suspicious."

As Hughes glared at Konohamaru, Elicia pouted and pushed herself completely away from her dad. She put her tiny hands on her hips, "No, we're gonna play ninja! Let's go Kon'homaru."

They ran away to Elicia's room, and Hughes decided he would check up on them every ten minutes. He was determined to make sure that the ill-mannered, brutish, _striking_ little boy wouldn't do anything to ruin his innocent little girl.

Just as he promised himself, he peeked into his daughter's room every ten minutes (or eight minutes, and sometimes five) to ensure himself that Elicia wasn't in any danger. He was pleased to see that they indeed _were_ playing ninja, and it was almost cute to watch them play flight with their made-up hand signs and words.

For the next few weeks Elicia would bring Konohamaru home after school, and even though it took a while for Hughes to accept that his daughter's best friend was a male, he found it nice to see the little boy so often. Konohamaru made the house livelier, and Gracia was ecstatic about Elicia making a friend that Hughes was so partial to. Why he became partial to the young boy, well, Hughes wasn't really sure.

There was something about Konohamaru that intrigued Hughes. It could have been his straight-forward nature, or the way he held himself around the adult, almost as if he was an adult himself and ignored the fact that he was still quite rude and childish. It was possible that the boy was merely an impolite type of person, and while that seriously irked the lieutenant it also reminded him of a few certain people.

One day, when Gracia was out with friends and Elicia had missed school due to a nasty cold, Konohamaru came over unannounced.

"My little angel is in bed with a serious sickness," Hughes nodded his head, eyes closed. He moved his had in a shoo-ing motion, "She's in no mood to play, so run along now."

"Don't wanna," Konohamaru pushed past Hughes' legs and made himself comfortable on the couch.

Not wanting to close the door, Hughes leaned against it and frowned, "Aren't your parents worried? You come over quite a lot, and Elicia has never asked to go to your house before. She hasn't gone to your house without me knowing, has she? She such a good little girl, I can't even imagine her doing something that… _scandalous_!"

"Stop freaking out, grandpa. We never go to my house,"

Hughes scowled, and finally closed the front door. He marched to the couch and crossed his arms, "What are your intentions with my daughter?"

Konohamaru recalled Hughes saying the same thing the first day that he came over, and this caused him to laugh, "I don't have any intentions with Elicia! We just like to play ninja and stuff."

"_Stuff_? What kind of _stuff_?" Hughes towered over the child and glared as hard as he could.

For some reason, this made Konohamaru's entire face turn red, and this stoked a fire inside Hughes – a fire of rage.

"You _do_ like my little girl! I was hoping this day would never come! Well, you can't have her, because she's mine!"

The boy scowled and looked away from the fuming adult, huffing in frustration, "I'm not interested in her, weirdo."

Hughes looked at him in confusion, the younger boy mumbling something under his breath that was nearly impossible to make out.

"What was that?" The man inched closer, cupping a hand around his ear.

"I said," Konohamaru began in annoyance, "I'm interested in _you_."

When Konohamaru's eyes met Hughes, he seemed sincere; so sincere, that Hughes nearly fell over in surprise.

"W-well that's flattering and all, but-,"

"I don't wanna be flattering, old man," he pouted, "I mean it."

Hughes wasn't sure how to respond, so instead he fell onto the couch in exasperation. When he turned to look at Konohamaru, his face instantly flushed when he noticed how close the two were. The first words to leave his mouth were, "I have a wife."

The younger boy looked indifferent, and he shrugged, "I'm 11 years old."

"Oh man," Hughes brought his hands to his face and cursed, "you're so young."

"You're so _married_,"

The lieutenant couldn't find any other argument. Konohamaru was young, and Hughes was married, but there was something lurking inside of him that _wanted_. It wanted the young boy without reason, and all logic left his brain as he turned away from the child.

"Okay,"

If Hughes had still been looking at Konohamaru, he would've seen the mixture of confusion and hope in the boy's features.

"O…okay?"

Taking in a shaky breath, Hughes nodded and stood, "Yeah."

The child rushed to his feet, and it looked as if he was vibrating with excitement, "Your wife isn't home, is she?"

"No," Hughes confirmed, "She'll be out for a while."

"Perfect," the boy began to return to his assertive nature, "Where do we start?"


End file.
